Monday, August 29, 2005

Summer Lovin'

Here's a catch up of the last few days, organised by people, rather than chronologically, just for a change:

Pearl

Has been doing lots of Sylvanian stuff. She was delighted to receive her introductory pack from the Sylvanian Collectors Club (paid for by a personal loan from the bank of grandma), which included two Badger grandparents, now named Flo and Sebastian. P. doesn't tend to use the given names of the Sylvanians, she makes up her own names and jobs for them. Today the whole badger family went on a camping trip to our garden.

She has also been working hard on making maps of the paths through the undergrowth of our local park, as a contribution to the club the five local cousins have formed. She does sketches while at the park and then neater versions on the computer.

Plus, she has been doing a lot of bike riding and some frisbee and bat and ball playing in the park, both with her cousins and with a friend from her old school, whom we've bumped into a couple of times.

Leo

Continues to be interested in eggs and nests. When not defeating monsters in the bushes in the park, he spends a lot of time creating nests and devising traps and defences to protect the eggs within from predators.

He is reading steadily, working his way through a pile of Blue/Red/Yellow Banana type books he has borrowed from the library, from P. and from his cousin S.

He is also quite dedicated to watching TV, and can frequently be heard snarling at anyone who tries to distract him from this with the fierce mantra "I am watching the telly!". (Allie and I are reminded of Waynetta Slob's "I am 'avin' a fag!")

Allie

Has been working hard on redecorating Pearl's bedroom. This involved removing a huge amount of accumulated toys, books, cardboard boxes, sweet wrappers, scraps of paper, etc etc to our bedroom, before painting the walls and ceiling (we couldn't manage the woodwork too, so we've left that). Now we're starting the long process of putting all that stuff back and trying to organise it a bit so that P. can find things and we feel like we've done something to improve the room as a living space. The walls are now a very vibrant lime green and the ceiling is sky blue.

Also took the kids to the library on Friday, where they borrowed several books touching on the Irish potato famine, as P. had declared she would like to do a project on it. This was inspired by reading Michael Morpurgo's Twist of Gold. A. and P. are planning to work together on this on Tuesdays, once we are back to our usual routine.

Dani

Also worked on the room decorating, and facilitated A. working on it by taking the kids to the park.

Plus going to work, worrying (and consulting doctor) about possible RSI in my hand, putting up a compost bin in the garden, and reading several of the lovely No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books.

We had a very enjoyable night out on Saturday, to celebrate our anniversary. We've been together 14 years, and both continue to be amazed by our good fortune.